How to start growing vegetables

There has been an increasing interest in growing food in recent years as incomes shrink, food prices rise and concerns grow over healthy eating.

For the novice gardener, it can be hard to know where to begin.

“Start small,” says Sam Foushee, president of the Emeryville Community Organic Garden, “and get the basics down before you invest a lot of time, effort and money.”

To that, I would add that it is important to consider your lifestyle.

Do you enjoy gardening? How much time do you have to garden? Do you cook? If not, do you eat a salad every day for lunch?

“Only grow things you know you will eat,” says Foushee, who also is a master gardener.

If you think a vegetables garden is for you, start by surveying your land. You want a flat area with good drainage that gets as many hours of sun as possible. Although greens, peas and beans will make do with less, most vegetables require a minimum of six to eight hours of sunlight per day.

In addition, take both summer and winter sun into consideration.

The back of my yard gets great winter sun, while the front gets none. In the summer, the front gets all the sun.

Next, look to your soil. Everything starts with soil. Whether or not you succeed depends upon the soil you start with and what you add to it. There is a great temptation these days to bypass our own soil, spending money on redwood-raised beds and paying someone for a “soil mix” that may or may not

contain soil and that may or may not produce good crops for more than one season.

Resist the temptation to remove your precious topsoil — it takes 1,000 years to build an inch of topsoil, and it contains the mineral nutrients and millions of microorganisms your vegetables need to thrive.

Almost all soil, whether it is clay or sand, can be turned into an excellent growing medium with the removal of weeds and the addition of compost (homemade, we hope) to improve its tilth and make it loose and friable, and able to hold air, water and nutrients.

Once you have a sunny, well-drained location and have decided what you want to grow, how much time you have to amend your soil, plant, harvest and use your crops, you can lay out your beds.

Lay out dedicated beds with paths between them so the beds will not be walked on. Orient them east to west so that all parts of the bed receive sunshine. Your beds should be two to four feet wide, so that you can reach the middle easily from either side.

Make them long enough to judiciously use your space, but not so long that you won’t want to walk around them. A 3-by-6 foot bed is big enough for six tomato plants or, with some planning, a steady supply of salad greens, or give you all the peppers and eggplants you need for the summer.

Tall or vining plants, such as peas, pole beans, pumpkins and cucumbers, can be grown vertically on trellises, saving room for other crops.

Paths should be about 18 inches wide and able to accommodate your wheelbarrow and other tools. They should be covered by a weed barrier or mulch.

Winter is the time to focus on building your soil. You can buy or make your own compost, collect leaves or visit a stable to see if they have any free horse bedding. Work about 6 to 8 inches of organic matter into hard or sandy soils that have not been previously amended. You also can plant a cover crop and turn it into your soil in late spring.

For very hard soils, use a “sod buster mix,” such as the one sold by Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, to aerate and break up your soil. Remember, the more time you spend on your soil, the healthier your plants will be and the less time you will spend later fighting pests and diseases.

In our climate, most cool season crops can be planted starting about the beginning of February. Those include lettuces and greens, root crops, peas, broccoli, cauliflower and other brassicas, onions and potatoes.

The closer you are to the coast or the bay, the earlier you can plant. You can direct seed things, including lettuce, root crops and peas, following seed packet directions on spacing and planting depth, or you can transplant seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower, kale or onions.

For transplants, consider the final size of the plant when planting. Leave 12 inches between brassicas and five inches for onions. Warm season crops can be planted between late March and early May, depending on your microclimate.

Birgitt Evans is an Alameda County Master Gardener. For more information on growing vegetables and fruits, go to http://acmg.ucdavis.edu/Growing_Your_Own_Food.

Grow your own tomatoes with Bill & Sheila
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